Method and machine for making hosiery



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" WIMWIIMIIMIIHIIDMMMMMHIID) Q [72 0612601" IZ-tzfiwrrafiaafa Jan.2,1945. F. LAMBACH METHOD AND MACHINE FOR MAKING HOSIERY Filed March 16,1939- I I'I-Sheet S-Sheet 16 HQ i qy Jan. 2, 1945. F. LAMBAZH' METHODAND MACHINE FOR MAKING HOSIERY Filed March 16, 1939 17 Sheets-Sheet l7Patented Jan. 2, 1945 ()FFICE CHINE FOR MAKING METHOD AND MA HOSIEBYFritz Lambach, Tenafly, N. J.

I Application March 16, 1939, Serial No. 262,265

In Germany March '26, 1938 52 Claims.

The present invention generally relates to the art of knitting hosiery,more particularly to a full-fashioned stocking of improved constructionand to a method and machine for making the same, and essentiallypertains to the manufacture of a knitted stocking consisting of aunitary combination leg and foot fabric and a heel fabric interknittedtherein.

' There has recently been developed a method of manufacturing stockingsof the type above referred to, whereby heel tabs are knitted directlyonto, and as continuations of, the high heel portions of a combinationleg and foot stocking blank, and the sole portions of said blank areinterknitted with said heel tabs as the knitting thereof progresses.This method is realized by placing the loops of the last course of thehigh heel portions onto relatively spaced end groups of knitting needlesof a needle row, and placing the loops of the first course of the soleportions onto middle groups of non-knitting needles arrangedintermediately of said series of knitting needles, and successivelytransferring the loops from the non-knitting needles outwardly onto theselvedge loops of said heel tab courses, thus forming an overlappinginterknitted connection therebetween.

The merit of this known method principally lies in the fact that it maybe carried out on existing known machines without necessitating materialchanges in the basic construction thereof. In the manufacture ofhosiery, it is sometimes desirable, and often necessary, to make thesole portions considerably wider than the first row of loops of thehighheel'portions of the stocking. It has been found, however, that,according to said known method, it is impossible to manufacture suchstockings. As long as the sole portions do not exceed a certain definitewidth, then the method referred to is practical, but as soon as thatdefinite width is exceeded, the method becomes impractical because itwould require the use of redesigned machines for, in existing machines,there is not sufficient'space between the series of knitting needles toaccommodate the entire increased width of the first row of loops of eachsole portion.

Therefore, it is an important object of the present invention to providea method of knitting stockings in the manner hereinbefore mentioned,whereby the first row of sole loops may be made of a relatively greaterlength than the rows of high heel loops According to the invention, thetwo high heel portions separated from the sole portions are foldedinwardly and placed side by side on the middle group of needles, and thetwo sole por= tions are positioned on the end groups of needles so that,in the knitting of the heel fabrics, the sole loops are transferred fromthe outside towards the inside instead of from the inside towards theoutside, as previously done. Since the width of the heel fabric neverexceeds a certain predetermined dimension, there is always sumcientspace between the needles serving as selvedge needles of the middlegroup to top the entire width of the high heel portions side by side.

It is also one of the most important objects of the invention to providea stocking of the type referred to consisting of a, combination leg andfoot fabric and a one piece fiat knitted fashioned heel fabricinterknitted with said blank, thus eliminating the presence of a scam inthe heel, which imparts a distinctive appearanoe to the stocking andrenders the same more comfortable to wear.

Another important object of the invention resides in the provision of astocking consisting of a full-fashioned combination leg and foot blankand a one-piece fashioned heel fabric interknitted therein, the freeloops at the bottom of said heel fabric being interknitted in a novelmanner on a knitting machine, thereby eliminating the relatively thicklooped connection usually found at that point in ordinary knitted freeloops at the bottom of the heel fabric, are

united by knitting relatively narrow strips of fabric on a knittingmachine, and during the knitting of such strips, interknitting therewithsaid free loops, accordingly producing a stocking without connectionsrequiring extra looping operations.

According to the present invention, in th I knitting of the leg and footfabrics in one operation, it is immaterial if the connection between thelast high heel and the first sole course (which is of greater width thanthe last high heel course of the completed stocking) is made by means ofraveled, courses or by means of socalled cutting courses. If cuttingcourses are provided, the first row of loops of each sole portionbecomes wider than the last row of loops of each high heel portion inthe finished stocking, and during the ittlng of the high heel portions,additional loops are on the outand sole portions being then placed onthe nee-' dies of the knitting machine for the knitting on andinterknitting of the heel fabric.

In order to accomplish the manufacture of a stocking according to thisinvention on a fiat Coulier knitting machine, provisions are made todisengage the needles in such a way that only the outer needles arerendered inactive while the center needles remain active. For example,the presser edge of the knitting machine may be made in at least threeseparate sections moving at different times so that the intermediatesection may engage the needles opposite thereto and the other sectionsdisengage the needles opposite thereto. In this way, the heel fabricbeing knitted on the active needles is knitted onto the high heelportions and the first row of loops of each sole portion in engagementwith the .inactive needles is transferred to the selvedge needles or tothe needles adjacent to the selvedge needles.

When the two high heel portions are placed on the knitting needleseither in close or overlapping relationship, and a onepiece heel fabricis to be knitted on, then in order to narrow the heel fabric the firstrow of loops of each sole portion must be transferred towards the centerfor the number of needles necessary to effect the narrowing. For thatreason, certain of'the intermediate needles mustbe used as selvedgeneedles on which the sole portionsare transferred for the purpose ofinterknitting them with the heel fabric. According to the invention, theneedles used as selvedge needles are operatively controlled by means ofmechanisms functioning automatically during operation of the knittingmachine. A preferred construction of the knitting machine to accomplishthis result comprises a row of vertically movable presser fingers whichmay be brou ht relatively into either inactive position or activeposition by means of specially devised control mechanism. For thispurpose, the control mechanism has two displaceable elements, onecontrolling the left half and the other the right half of the presseredge during operation of the machine.

Further, when knitting a single piece heel fabric in the mannermentioned onto the two high heel portions and when narrowing the heelfabric, the loops of the first course of each sole portion aretransferred towards the center for the required number of needles and.according to this invention, only one pair of narrowing combs isemployed, one narrowing comb working over the left half of the knittingsection and the other narrowing comb working over the right half of theknitting section. Each comb then serves, according to the particularwork of the. knitting machine, either to transfer the sole loops only,or to transfer the sole loops and simultaneously narrow the heel fabric.This selective operation of the loop transfer mechanism requires agreater flexibility in the operation of the narrowing combs and, forthat purpose, according to this invention, there is provided a mechanismwhich may be controlled from the main cam shaft of the machine,

thr u h which the narrowing combs are brou into a greater number ofdifferent positions and from these positions may be moved back and forthto narrow over the desired number of needles in addition to transfer thesole loops, or only to transfer the sole loops.

Other characteristic features of the invention will appear from thefollowing description based upon the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is an elevation of one form of stocking blank constructed inaccordance with the invention;

Figure 2 is a perspective of the lower portion of a completed stockingmade from the blank shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an elevation of another form. of stocking blank constructedin accordance with the invention;

Figure 4 is a perspective of the lower portion of a completed stockingmade from the blank shown in Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a perspective of the lower portion of a completed stockingconstructed from a blank similar to that shown in Figure 1 with slightmodifications;

Figure 6 is an elevation of a part of a stocking I blank withcombination leg and foot fabric and a one-piece fashioned heel fabric,with open heel bottom and toe tip;

Figure '7 is an elevation of a combination leg and foot blankconstructed in accordance with the invention;

Figure 8 is an enlarged diagrammatic view of a ortion of the combinationblank shown in Figure 7, illustrating the connection between the leg andfoot fabrics;

Figure 9 diagrammatically illustrates th cut combination blank and theposition of the high heel portions for the knitting of separate heel 40tabs thereonto;

Figure 10 diagrammatically illustrates the cut combination blank and theposition of the high heel portions for the knitting of a one-piecefashioned heel fabric;

Figure 11 is a front elevation of a portion of the knitting machinebuilt in accordance with the invention for the knitting of separate heeltabs onto the heel portions, and interknitting the sole o ons with saidheel tabs during the knitting thereof;

Figure 12 is an enlarged diagrammatic representation of the relativeposition of the loops during operation of the machine shown in Figure11;

Figure 13 is a face elevation of a portion of a combination leg and footstocking blank with the heel tabs inserted therein;

Figure 14 is a transversal section through one portion of the knittingmachine intended for the knitting of separate heel tabs;

Figure 14a is a diagrammatic representation of a modified form ofpresser edge;

Figure 15 is an enlarged detail in cross section of certain parts of themachine illustrated in Fig ure 14;

Figure 16 is a detail of the chain operated mechanism for the control ofcertain machine parts represented in Figure 14;

Figure 17 is a. transversal section through another portion of themachine for knitting sepa-' tion of a portion of the machine illustratedin Figure 18;

Figure 20 is an enlarged cross sectional detail of the portion of themechanism shown in Figure 19;

Figure 21 is a section taken on line 2l-2l of Figure 20; I

Figure 22 is a rear elevation of the machine for knitting separate heeltabs illustrating the Coulier motion and associated elements;

Figure 23 is an enlarged detail in top Plan illustrating the operativeconnection between the friction rods;

Figure 241s an enlarged section taken online 24-24 of Figure 22;

Figure 25 is a front elevation of a portion of the knitting machinebuilt in accordance with the invention for knitting a one-piecefashioned heel fabric onto a combination leg and foot stocking blank;

Figure 26 is a diagrammatic representation illustrating-the relativeposition of the loops during operation of the machine as shown in Figure25;

Figure 27 is a view similar to Figure 25 illustrating the position ofthe parts at the finish of the heel fabric;

Figure 28 diagrammatically illustrates the position of the loops duringthe knitting and narrowing of a one-piece heel fabric for shaping thesame;

Figure 29 is an elevation of the machine parts illustrating their.relative position during the formation of the knitted connection of thefree loops at the heel bottom;

Figure 30 is a diagrammatic representation of the position of the loopsduring operation of the machine parts as shown in Figure 29;

Figure 31 diagrammatically illustrates the overlapping of adjacent edgeloops of two high heel portions and the interknitting thereof with theheel fabric;

Figure 32 is a front elevation of the machine parts illustrating theknitting of a connection between the edge loops at the tip of the toe;

Figure 33 is an enlarged transversal section through a portion of themachine constructed for the knitting of a one-piece fashioned heelfabric onto the combination leg and foot stocking blank;

Figure 34 is a detail in elevation illustrating the control of thepresser fingers;

Figure 35 is an enlarged cross sectional detail through a knittingsection of the machine illustrating a presser finger in operativeposition;

Figure 36 is an enlarged detail of the transfe wedge and associatedparts;

Figure 37 is an elevation of the other end of the machine, as shown inFigure 36;

Figure 38 is a top plan of that end of the machine shown in Figure 3'7Figure 39 diagrammatically illustrates the essential successive steps ofthe method followed for the knitting of a one-piece fashioned heelfabric into a combination leg and foot stocking ,blank;

Figure 40 is an enlarged diagrammatic illustration of the overlapping ofthe knitted seam between the adjoining portions of the stocking;

Figures 41 to 43 inclusive diagrammatically illustrate the essentialsteps'of the method followed in the formation of a knitted connection atthe tip of the toe.

Forms of stockings "Referring more particularly to Figure 1 and 2,illustrating one form of stocking constructed in accordance with theinvention, there is shown in Figure 1 a stocking blank l comprising aleg fabric [2, a foot fabric 14, and a heel fabric IS. The leg fabricincludes the welt It, the high heel portions 20 and 2|; the foot fabricincludes the instep I5, the sole portions 22 and 23, and the toe 24; andthe heel fabric consists of a single flat knitted fashioned piece whichis knitted onto, and

\ as a continuation of, the high heel portions 20 and 2l'of the legfabric i2, as indicated by vthe dotted lines A, and interknitted to thesole portions 22 and 23 0f the foot fabric I, as indicated by the dashand dot lines B.

The heel bottom and toe tip, which are normally open due to the shapingthereof, are closedby the interknitting of their edges with knittedseams 26 and 28 respectively. The stocking is completed by sewing theselvedges 30 and 3| of the welt l8, the selvedges 32 and 33 of the legfabric l2, the selvedges 34 and 35 of the highheel portions 20 and 2|,and the selvedges 36 and 31 of the sole portions 22 and 23 to form therear seam and the sole seam 38 and 80 respectively (Figure 2).

In Figures 3 and 4, there is illustrated another form of stocking madein accordance with the inv'ention. In this form, the stocking alsoconsists high heel portions 20 and 2!, and the foot fabric includes theinstep l5, the sole portions 22 and 23, and the toe 24, but the heelfabric, instead of consisting of a single piece, is made up of a pair ofseparated heel tabs 42 and as, one heel tab 42 being knitted asacontinuation of one high heel portion 2a, and interknitted with thecorresponding sole portion 22, and the other heel tab 43 being knittedas a continuation of the remaining high heel portion 2! and interknittedwith the corresponding sole portion 23, as indicated at A and B. tabsare interconnected by the interknitting of their edges with the knittedseam 26, and the toe tip is closed likewise by the interknitting of itsedges with the knitted seam 28.

The stocking is completed by sewing the selvedges 30 and 3! of the welt,the selvedges 32 and 33 of the leg fabric, the selvedges as and 35 ofthe high heel portions, and the selvedges Q4 and 45 of the heel tabs toform the rear seam 38 extending into the heel fabric I 6', as indicatedat 38' in Figure 4. The selvedges 36 and 37 of the sole portions 22 and23 are also sewed to form the sole seam d3.

In Figure 5, there is shown a modification of the construction of thestocking form illustrated in I Figure 2. In this modified form of thestocking,

the heel bottom andtoe tip which, as hereinbefore stated, are normally.open, are closed by means of the well known looping operations to formthe looped seam 26' and 28'.

Stocking blank fabric l2 and foot fabric it, the toe as, the high heelportions 2t and 2a and the sole portions 22 The bottoms of the heel

